Face-to-Face
by Me Against The Fandoms
Summary: Years after Link's parents died during a pirate attack, his sister is kidnapped. With no other option for saving her but to ride with a pirate crew, he's facing one of his worst nightmares. But the young pirate captain wants to help him… (WW fic, AU)
1. Prologue

**Author's notes: **_So this chapter's the prologue/intro to this fic, it's fairly similar to the beginning of the game but with my own twists on dialogue and such. This A/N may get a little long but it contains important information about the fic so to best understand the fic, please read it. Link and Aryll's parents went to sea on an important trip and were killed by pirates. Link was told about this, and as such is very afraid of pirates. This complicates things, since when his sister is kidnapped, his only way to save her is by traveling with a crew of pirates..._

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**PROLOGUE: The Worst Birthday**

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Link smiled as he looked out at the sea from the watchtower. Today was his 12th birthday. He was wearing the green outfit his grandmother had made for him, looking around with the telescope his sister had given him. It was such a nice day, although a bit hot to be wearing the clothes he was.

Just then, his sister screamed. "Big b-brother! LOOK! That bird has a girl!"

He looked up at the sky where she was looking, and gasped. Sure enough, a giant bird was flying nearby, a girl in its claw. A ship was shooting at it, and managed to strike it. To his shock, she fell into the forest. "S-someone should go save her!" Aryll gasped. "Link! Link, you should go try to save her! Doesn't that guy Orca have a sword? Haven't you been learning from him? Go get that sword and help her!"

He nodded, jumping down from the ladder (he'd done it enough that he knew how to cushion his fall), and ran off to Orca's house. The old swordsman was practicing when Link entered. "Orca!" He huffed. "I need a sword! A girl just… she was… a bird was carrying her off, and it dropped her into the woods, and…"

"And you wish to go save her," Orca nodded. "I understand. Take it. I know you won't misuse it."

"Thank you!" Link bowed in thanks and ran off toward the path that led up to the woods.

Who would have ever thought that this kind of thing would happen? Outset Island, his home island, was usually such a peaceful place. And on his birthday, of all days… it was strange, to say the least, all of this. He'd never known giant birds like that even existed.

He cut through the small trees that blocked off the path and continued on his way, his head nearly spinning with all his thoughts. What was happening? Why? Why here? Why now?

Entering the forest, he sighed and cleared his head. No good would come from panicking. He spotted the girl up in a tree, hanging by her vest. He should probably get there before she fell. So he headed on the path that he knew would take him there.

He stopped in his tracks, though, when he saw a strange creature he'd never seen before lingering around a stump. He'd been in this forest several times before, but he'd never seen anything like that. It had a somewhat pig-like face, dark grey skin with a bluish tint to it, beady eyes, and a stick in its hand like a weapon. Stick against sword… he charged at it.

A few swings and stabs, and the monster being fell over dead, exploding into a purple cloud, which revealed a green rupee when it cleared. He picked it up and continued on.

The next clearing seemed empty, until he heard birds crying overhead, sounding like no birds he'd ever heard before. He looked up and froze for a moment. Two birds that looked a bit like smaller versions of the one that had carried the girl dropped two large pig-like beasts into the clearing with him.

They were almost comical looking, their tiny legs being much too small for their huge bodies, yet somehow they still managed to stand and walk. He wasted no time in drawing his sword and fighting them off, which was fairly easy once he disarmed them of their spears.

It seemed to take forever before he reached the girl, and by the time he did, she'd woken up and fallen from the tree branch onto her rear. "Owww…!" She groaned, standing up and looking around. "Where am I…?"

He approached her, and she turned and looked at him. "…who are you? And what's with those clothes? Wait, no, that doesn't matter… yeah, where am I?"

Before he could say a word, a man ran into the woods, calling, "MISS TETRA!"

The girl, apparently named Tetra, looked at him. "Oh, Gonzo."

"Thank goodness you're alright!" Gonzo was obviously worried about Tetra. "When that bird dropped you on this summit, we thought you'd…"

"Summit? That bird dropped me on top of a mountain?! Well, wasn't that nice of it… come on, Gonzo, it's time we show that bird not to mess with pirates!" Tetra took off. Gonzo soon followed, but not before glancing at Link, who for a moment stood still, frozen. Then he followed too, wanting to get back to his sister and grandma.

As soon as he stepped out of the forest, he heard Aryll call out, "BIG BROTHER!". He looked over to see her on the other side of the bridge, waving at him. He waved back, and she started to walk over the bridge to him.

She didn't make it. Out of seemingly nowhere, the bird came back, swooped down, and grabbed her in its claw before flying off. "BIG BROTHER! HELP!" Aryll cried.

Without thinking, Link dashed forward… and fell off the cliff. Tetra caught him by the wrist. "S-stupid kid, are you trying to die?! She's gone, you can't do anything now!"

Whimpering, Link just hung there, upset as he watched the bird fly off with his sister.


	2. Chapter 1

_A/N: Here's the official first chapter. Kind of short, but this was the best place to cut it off. The chapters will get longer, I promise._

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Link sat on the beach as the postman argued with the pirates. He wasn't sure about what; he was trying to distract himself. He was upset about his sister, and scared of the pirates. All he'd wanted was to spend his birthday the same way he always did. Not this. This was the worst birthday he'd ever had. He picked up a stick and started drawing in the sand.

The pirate girl, apparently the captain, approached him. "Hey, kid." She said. He turned to look at her. "Well… I guess since this is kinda partly my fault, we're gonna take you with us on our ship to save your sister."

Link's eyes widened. He was going to be sailing with these… these pirates on their ship?! But they were pirates! As much as he wanted to save his sister, he wished there was another way.

"But you should really go get a shield. Oh, and probably say your goodbyes, too." Tetra said.

He scrambled to his feet and ran for his house, opening the door and not relaxing until he was inside… where his grandma seemed to be crying.

"…grandma?"

"Aryll… she really is gone, isn't she?" His grandma whispered. "I heard… oh, what kind of monster would take a poor young girl like her…"

"Grandma, I… I'm going to go save her," He said. "She's going to be fine…"

"At least take this with you, then," his grandma turned to him and handed him a shield… no, the family shield, the same one he'd seen on the wall so many times.

"…thank you," He muttered. "I promise me and Aryll will come home safe…"

His grandma didn't reply, and he felt a twinge of sadness come over him as he left the house, but it was replaced by fear as he walked up to the pirates, trying to look as brave as he could. "See you got a shield, but… it looks kinda old… oh well, it'll probably work. You ready?" Tetra asked.

"Yes," He said, hearing his voice shake a little, and hoping they hadn't heard it. "I'm ready." As I'm ever going to be, he added in his head.

He waved his final goodbyes as the ship set out, holding back a few tears when he spotted his grandma on the deck of their house, watching. He was going to miss that island more than anything.

He was interrupted by a noise from Tetra. "So when're you gonna stop being so emotional, do you have a guess? If it's just going to get worse, we could turn around and take you back…"

Oh, how he wished he could say yes to that offer. He didn't want to be here, not at all. But he was doing this for Aryll, he had to keep reminding himself of that… "No," he said. "I'm fine."

"If you say so," Tetra said. "Well, okay, but if you're gonna be sailing with us, go below deck for now so you don't get in our way."

Link was more than happy to do that, and he went downstairs. He'd thought this birthday couldn't get any worse, but apparently he was wrong. Here he was on a pirate ship—a pirate ship— in order to rescue his sister. Pirates had killed his parents. He was terrified of pirates.

But I have to… for Aryll! he thought to himself. But couldn't there be another way? One that didn't involve pirates?

After a while, he heard footsteps but didn't bother to move. He wanted to pass out. He was tired. Not to mention if he was asleep it was possible he could forget all this. "…hey. Hey, Link? What're you doing?"

Judging by the voice, it was Tetra. "…sleep," He muttered.

"Sleeping? Why are you sleeping? You're on a pirate ship, aren't you the least bit curious? You're not gonna snoop around?" Tetra asked.

"Don't remind me," Link said.

"…what?"

"Don't remind me where I am." Link said, a little louder.

"Why?"

"Just don't, okay?" Link said, his voice cracking.

Tetra could tell she was probably nearing a touchy subject, so she changed topics. "Okay… uh, your sister. You love her, a lot, don't you? Going out and trying to save her…"

"Yeah," Link replied. "I do."

He wasn't saying much, and she figured he might not. Maybe he was getting seasick? "…are you feeling okay?"

"No."

"What's wrong?"

"Don't wanna talk 'bout it." Link turned away and curled up again.

She sighed. "Okay, but, y'know, if you do need anything, ask."

He listened to her retreating footsteps and waited until he was sure she was gone until letting himself start to cry silently. This wasn't fair. Why did this happen? Why did his sister have to get kidnapped? And why, oh why, did he have to tag along with pirates in order to save her?

After he'd cried until he had no tears left, he finally managed to pass out.


End file.
